Your Environmental Issue:
Getting from Problem to Solution
Citizens start environmental groups because they see a need. Some groups form
gradually over months or years; others are
created almost instantaneously to meet a
crisis. In either case, some degree of organizing, analysis, and strategizing will need
to take place before a group can respond to
an issue.
Some people find getting organized quite
daunting. But as Julia Chadwick, formerly
with the Friends of the Petitcodiac, notes:
“Organizing is something most of us
have been involved with in one way
or another — it can range from getting together with neighbours over
coffee to plan a block barbecue to
developing a plan of action to oppose
an unwanted development or achieve
a desired one.”
This section of the NBEN training kit is
about:
• getting organized
• analyzing the problem
• developing an action strategy
• implementing the plan
• evaluating success
These five elements are interrelated, part
of a continuum: as time goes on, conditions change, information changes, and
therefore strategies and actions will need
to change as well.

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Original version
published 1994

This section examines each component in
this continuum.

Getting Organized
Structure or be free....
Some citizen groups are highly structured
— everything laid out in detail through
legal incorporation, a constitution, and bylaws. Other groups dispense with formality and have rotating chairpersons and an
open forum for discussion. They pass no
resolutions or take no actions. There are
advantages and disadvantages to each approach. For citizen groups handling money
or engaging in action a totally unstructured
set-up has dangers. Lack of structure can
make it difficult to establish formal group
policy and to determine who speaks on
behalf of the group. It can fail to provide a
procedure for settling conflicts among
members. It makes handling the group’s
finances more difficult.
But too much structure may restrict the
scope of an organization’s work. For example, if the organization is given a limited purpose in its constitution as, “to organize and present objections to the waste
dump in Spencer County,” then the group
gives itself a limited mandate to work on
larger issues such as waste reduction, resource conservation, or land use planning.
Formal structure also requires time and
energy to maintain: in small
groups this may
detract from
work on the
issues. Each
group will need
to find the right
balance be-

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2

tween too much structure and none at
all.
A final note on structure. Some groups
will face the question, “Should we quit
or carry on?” at some time in their existence — some groups face it quite frequently.

Decision-making processes
Rick Green, author of
Getting People Together had this to say
about when to quit:
“First of all, keep
firmly in mind that
there is no reflection
on a group or its
members if they decide the group no
longer serves a purpose. It may be
much better for active people involved
in their community
to move on to other
challenges. Selfevaluation by a
group should be a
continuing thing,
and when that
evaluation says it’s
time to quit, don’t
fight it.”

At some point, your organization will
need to make decisions about the what,
where, when, and how of proposed activities. There are many types of decision-making process: simple majority,
two-thirds majority, consensus, even
benevolent dictatorship. Your organization’s choice will depend upon your
members and the structure of your organization. New groups may find it
useful to keep flexible until you can see
what method best helps the group meet
its goals.
The most common method of organizational decision-making is majority rule.
This is conventional “parliamentarystyle” democracy: one person, one vote
with decisions made either by a simple
majority or some larger percentage.
Meetings are conducted according to
recognized parliamentary rules of order.
Most of us have some familiarity with
majority rule process. We may be less
familiar with consensus, a decisionmaking method that is receiving a great
deal of attention. Essentially, consensus
aims to get total agreement on actions
from all the participants who have declared a stake in an issue. Groups use
variations of pure consensus decisionmaking and it is not unusual to hear
federal and provincial governments talk
about consensus when discussing the
process they used (or will use) to make
decisions regarding some social, eco-

nomic, and environmental issues. In
this context, the term is used to indicate
a process of participation that encourages dialogue and, to a varying degree,
problem-solving between organizations
or stakeholders with different values,
goals, and agendas. In 1993, the Canadian Round Tables published a booklet,
Building Consensus for a Sustainable
Future, outlining ten guiding principles
for consensus processes and, in 1996, a
guide-book, Putting Principles into
Practice, for putting those principles
into action. These principles can be
viewed as rules for participation and
achieving agreement between members
within a group, as well as between organizations.
In its broadest intention, consensus
process can encourage individuals to
share their knowledge and expertise
thereby creating an atmosphere for
creative and innovative solutions to
emerge. But like any process, it takes
practice to make it work properly. A
group can opt to use a consensus process for problem-identification and solving but use another form of decisionmaking (e.g., 2/3 majority) to make
decisions. There are some key points to
keep in mind when practising some
form of consensus decision-making.
Figure 1 outlines these key points.
In either majority rule or consensus, it
is important for the group to decide its
quorum, the minimum number of people required to initiate a vote or to make
a decision. The greater the quorum, the
broader the potential input to decisionmaking. The bottom line regarding
decision-making is that everyone in the
group needs to be aware and informed
as to how decisions are made. An open
and effective decision-making process
will help to develop accountability and
build a strong organization.

Your Environmental Issue: Getting from Problem to Solution

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Figure 1. Consensus Decision-Making
1. The chair ensures that no one speaks twice until everyone has had a chance
to speak once to the issue.
2. Resolutions are recorded as they emerge.
3. Each resolution statement is read back to the group.
4. Test for consensus (or agreement) by asking if there is any opposition
(blocks) to accepting the resolution.
5. If there is a block to consensus, the resolution does not go forward as a decision unless the individual(s) blocking consensus agree to proceed.

Analyzing the Problem
Organization takes time. While your
group is getting organized, it will also be
analyzing the problem that has brought
everyone together. This requires an understanding of the circumstances that led
up to the problem and what barriers your
group faces in getting something done
about the problem.
Problem identification and goal-setting
takes practice. The identification of a
problem can be based on a direct observation or knowledge, a belief, a judgement, an assumption, or on all four elements. A problem statement that gives
recognition to a wide range of insights
about the issue will help to build community support and draw support from
other groups.

Underlying the process was the conviction that the causeway gates could be
opened to restore the free flow of the
Petitcodiac River and that this would
ultimately benefit everyone in communities from Anagance to Shepody Bay.
The groups involved shared a common
conviction: they were no longer prepared to watch the river be destroyed,
and they were convinced that the more
people who learned about what was happening to the river, the more support
opening the gates would obtain.

Defining the problem / issue

Problems are a recognition of an unsatisfying reality (e.g. forest clearcuts, water
contamination, toxic waste, habitat destruction, etc.) and a diagnosis of its
causes (e.g., inappropriate resource management, industrial effluent, unrestricted
development, etc.). Goals are a declaraCase Study
tion of certain values (e.g., protecting
Petitcodiac River Causeway
human health, protecting a species or
In 1992, the provincial government anhabitat, etc.) and a call to action (e.g.,
nounced that the gates in the causeway
preventing further contamination or
across the Petitcodiac River would rehabitat loss, enforcing regulations, openmain closed. This action prompted local
ing the causeway gates, establishing nainterest groups, ranging from churchture reserves, etc.).
basement organizations to sportsmenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
associations, to get together, with the
Broadening participation in the process
support of larger provincial-level
of identifying the problem/issue and setgroups, and outline all the reasons the
ting goals is important:
government decision should be reversed.

Your Environmental Issue: Getting from Problem to Solution

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• When it comes to generating
ideas, a dozen heads may be better than one, two or three heads;
• It can help build relationships
between members, a sense of
belonging and ownership, and
ultimately contribute to the sustainability of the organization;
• Wide participation lessens the
likelihood of one person’s agenda
dominating the group’s goals and
decisions.

Brainstorming
One useful tool in facilitating participation is brainstorming. The theory behind brainstorming is that imagination
and judgement are two distinct processes. Imagination should be given free
rein to produce ideas before judgement
is brought onto the scene. Brainstorming helps to define the scope of your
group’s knowledge, assumptions, beliefs, and judgements. It can help the
group assess gaps in knowledge, identify priority actions, and identify its
allies. It can also help to divide a problem into manageable pieces. Brainstorming utilizes all the resources of the
group.
In brainstorming, recording ideas is
crucial. Have a designated “recorder”
and use a flip chart. Define some parameters for the brainstorming to help
people focus their thinking and imagination. For example, if your group is
dealing with groundwater contamination you may want to know: who is affected? what is the geographic scope of
the contamination? what are the possible sources of contamination? who is
responsible for groundwater monitoring? what do we know about the legislation regarding the issue? who can we
invite to help us with this problem?

what are people saying about the problem? what are the effects of contamination? how might the problem be
solved?
Case Study
Petitcodiac River Causeway
The groups involved looked at
Rules of Brainstorming
1. Set a time limit
2. Designate someone to record
the ideas
3. Outline some questions that
need to be answered
4. List all the thoughts, ideas, and
information presented
5. Do not discuss them (expanding
on someone’s idea is ok)
6. Do not judge or criticize
7. Repetitions are ok (mark the
repetitions or jot them down
again)
8. Once all of the ideas are on the
flip chart, begin developing
strategies.
how the decision to keep the Petitcodiac River shackled could be made in
the first place and where the blockages
to opening the gates and restoring the
river were based. They identified the
people they needed to bring on-side in
their efforts to get government to
change its mind. These are the questions that needed to be answered:
1. What is the habitat problem?
2. Who created the problem?
3. What conditions exist which allowed the situation to develop?
4. Who needs to act to resolve the
problem?
5. Where is the political blockage?

Your Environmental Issue: Getting from Problem to Solution

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According to Janice Harvey, lecturer at University
of New Brunswick and
former Executive Director
of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick:
“Whatever the project, you must determine
who has the ability to
block what you want to
do. This is knowing the
power of others — know
thy enemy. In order to
make something happen,
you have to build a
power base of your own.
Power can be a positive
thing if you empower
yourself and others.
The power of one
can be positive; people
need to take responsibility. Individuals can be
role models, provide
leadership, and inspiration. But it can also be
dangerous. If one person
takes all the responsibility, then it disempowers
others in the group and
essentially, ‘lets them off
the hook’. It can also
lead to the personalization of the issue which
leads to the risk of alienation. There will be a
lack of broad ownership
of the issue, which can
mean a lack of long-term
sustainability. And when
the individual goes, the
effort goes. This is a very
important issue to consider.”

6. Where are the resources needed
to drive resolution?

Power

They identified the people they
needed to bring on-side in order
to get government to change its
mind. Their targets included the
general public, nature and wildlife groups, provincial and municipal politicians, and international groups such as the Gulf of
Maine Council.

Building a power base is about creating
influence and credibility in your community, with the public-at-large, and
with bureaucrats and politicians. Take
the time to develop your own power
and the power of your group. Janice
Harvey identifies the following power
tools:
POWER TOOLS

Research
In many cases, if the information your
group needs is not readily available,
your group will need to do its own research. Extend your process of information gathering to your community or
other organizations that may have an
interest in the issue. This can be done
using several techniques including:
• Forming citizens’ committees,
task forces, panels, or councils to
research information on specific
issues;
• Holding public meetings, workshops, or forums that seek information and input on specific issues; and
• Mailing or emailing questionnaires and surveys to, or having
one-on-one discussions with, individuals that may never come to
meetings or participate on committees.
These methods can also be used to determine public opinion, attitudes, and
values regarding proposed solutions.
Enlisting the knowledge and support of
community members can also help to
build public and community awareness
and support for your work.

KNOWLEDGE: Focus your attention on the
information you need to be credible to your
audience. Make sure your group knows what
it is talking about and it has gathered evidence to support its position. Plan your actions to enhance your credibility. You will
gain respect (even grudgingly), if you know
what you are talking about. If you slip up —
even once — you will lose the ear of all kinds
of people.
THE PUBLIC: Work towards building public
support. Avoid alienating people. However, it
is important not to compromise your goals.
You don’t have to dilute your message. Keep
your ear to the ground in the public sense.
Listen to what the public is saying and understand why they are saying it.
ANALYSIS: Know the system you are working
within, whether it is a school, the government, or a corporation. Discover what moves
that system. You have to learn to interact
with that system. Your task is to broaden the
view of the political and social system you
are working within. Most importantly, you
must understand the real problem; analyze it
thoroughly. This point is often ignored.
STRATEGY: There is a whole range of strategic options. If you have the right problem and
the right solution, but the wrong strategy, you
may risk alienating the public. These days,
we do have to have a bottom line. The end
does not necessarily justify the means.

Your Environmental Issue: Getting from Problem to Solution

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Developing a Strategy
There are two questions that need to be
answered in order for a plan of action to
unfold:
• What are your group’s goals
regarding the issue?
• How will you achieve these
goals?

What are your goals?

spectrum of actions. (Don’t forget to
assess and determine your base of support and the power structure around an
issue.) These actions could include media campaigns, public speaking tours,
rallies or protests, political involvement, civil disobedience, policy papers,
guerilla theatre, research, or “going to
the top” through lobbying. Use the
brainstorming method for each goal and
allow yourselves the luxury of having a
large supply of actions to choose from.

Once you have generated a list which
Your group will need to evaluate or
may include needs, concerns, desires,
rank the various options they have idenproblems, issues, and even solutions,
tified. It is possible that some of the
categorize your ideas under common
action items can not be undertaken by
themes and begin rephrasing them in
your group because of the time, money,
terms of direction and destination —
volunteers, or support required. Your
what do you hope to achieve? where
group will need some type of criteria to
will these ideas take you? Make sure
evaluate each action:
your goals are statements of what you
realistically can accomplish with the Responsibility — Is there a potential individual or group,
other than yours, that could take responsibility for impleresources you have.
menting an action? This information should have surfaced
during public involvement and issue-analysis activities. Is
Goals are statements of what the
there an existing private or public institution that can imgroup wants to achieve. They turn
plement
an action? Is there legislation that relates to this
information and recognized issues/
action?
problems into action items. Goals set
Supportability — How many community or interest
the stage for clarifying tasks, calcugroups are likely to support this option? Would the genlating timetables, and deciding on
eral public, environmentalists, business owners, and town
actions. They are also used to measofficials support the option? Information gained through
ure the success of completed actions.
public involvement and problem assessment will help to
determine this factor.
A pitfall of goal setting is being too
Effectiveness — To what extent is the option likely to be
vague. Goals should be specific: to
successful? Will it meet the needs? How well has this opopen the gates in the causeway across
tion worked elsewhere? Has it worked under similar conthe Petitcodiac River; to develop a
ditions? Research into examples of what other communicoastal land trust program; to prevent
ties have done will be useful.
the development of a quarry.
Timing — How quickly will you need to act to address the
problem or issues? Which options will produce quick results? Which options will be more effective in the long
How will you achieve
run? It is important to set a balance between long-term and
these goals?
short-term options.
Feasibility — How much would the implementation of
Once you have defined the important
this option cost, both in human and financial resources?
facts regarding an issue/problem and
Are funding sources available? How much time and effort
identified the key issues and goals,
would this option require? How practical is it?
your group is ready to consider a

Your Environmental Issue: Getting from Problem to Solution

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Lobbying
Upon evaluating the options, your
group may find that letting your politician know what you think about an issue is very important to advancing your
goals. Here are eight tips for effective
lobbying from the Canadian Labour
Congress’s handbook, Campaign Organizing in Your Community:
1. Stick to the subjects your
group is knowledgeable about.
This is where your research and
information gathering will be
useful.
2. Face to face is best. Do your
talking in person rather than by
phone or correspondence. Telephone meetings make it too easy
to be put onto someone else and
letters can be misplaced or forgotten. Politicians are people so
relax and get comfortable. Mention mutual friends or acquaintances, ease into the subject.
3. Don’t lobby alone. But don’t
take a large group either. Two or
three people is about right. The
ideal situation is if each member
in your delegation can speak to
one aspect of the issue, e.g. the
science, the legislation, the community, etc.
4. Be prepared and informative.
Assume that the politician has
not yet made up his or her mind,
even if you know they have.
Have your analysis written down.
Leave them with something to
read. Bring any press clippings,
letter of support, etc.
5. Be polite and persistent. Rudeness just gives politicians a reason to ignore you. Politeness will
also be appreciated by your non-

partisan allies. But be persistent.
There is nothing wrong with repeating yourself. Just try and do
it a little differently each time.
6. Don’t get distracted. Politicians
know how to change the subject,
especially when they are on the
defensive. Ask them directly (and
keep pressing): “Is this an important issue for you?”; “Is there any
information you need that may
influence your decision?”; “Are
you convinced that there is no
better way to deal with this issue?”; “Will you attend a public
meeting to explain your position?”.
7. Follow up directly. After your
meeting write a letter expressing
your thanks for the person’s time
and outlining your understanding
of the meeting. Restate your
group’s position if necessary.
Indicate that your letter is being
circulated.
8. Follow up indirectly. Have other
organizations write follow-up
letters expressing disappointment
with (or praise for) the person’s
position. If they are not already
aware of the meeting, tell the media about it.

Implementing and Evaluating your Action Plan
Who, how, and when
Once your group has selected its action
(s), draw up an agenda of by whom,
how, and when tasks will be carried
out. Good organizing means dividing
up the work so everyone in the group
participates in the action plan.

Your Environmental Issue: Getting from Problem to Solution

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WHO will take responsibility for initiating and implementing the action?
One group could take the lead
role, or the work could be shared
among a number of groups or individuals. If no firm commitment
to take a leadership role exists,
consider ways of generating interest in carrying out this action in
the future, rather than immediately.
HOW will the action be taken?
Break the action into main components. For example, developing
support for a sustainable agriculture project could involve meeting
with local farmers, fundraising,
preparing a portable display for
public information sessions, and
organizing workshops.
WHEN will the action be taken?
Sometimes a fixed deadline is approaching that will determine your
time frame. For instance, a public
consultation/hearing date may be
scheduled for a landfill site. In
other cases, you may need to
know only that a given action
such as a water quality monitoring
program or a wildlife inventory
should be accomplished within the
next year or by the end of the following summer. Perhaps one action will begin only after another
is completed. These time frames
provide a general guide for planning your work.

Determining the sequence of
events
Organizing your time, resources, and
people is necessary to make actions
come to life. Not every action or event
requires a detailed list of tasks, but in
many cases a complex project becomes

more manageable when broken down
into smaller pieces.
An action agenda outlines a framework
for taking actions in a logical sequence.
An effective action agenda will show
the scope of your activities both shortand long-term (e.g. writing press releases versus applying for funding).
What you can do to get started is to
make lists of everything and everyone
you will need as part of the major actions. These lists can be arranged on a
time-line by days, weeks, or months
and ordered in a logical sequence. People can be assigned to tasks and deadlines can be set for each step. (see Action Agenda)

Follow-up
Each action will generate its own momentum, and its success will sometimes
be difficult to evaluate objectively. It is
important to keep track of your progress to be sure that you are accomplishing your goals. Are you meeting
your time frame? Are the responsible
parties continuing to carry out their actions? Should responsibilities be shifted
or shared with other groups? Are you
gaining support? If not, why not?
While monitoring your work, it is also
important to continue to publicize your
efforts with an eye towards continuously expanding your base of support.
Periodic public events — an annual
festival around your group’s vision, a
slide show, a clean-up day, article in
the newspaper — are a good way to
achieve this purpose. These events also
serve as a way to celebrate your progress. And remember, fundraising
events (raffles, bake sales, auctions,
etc) serve dual functions: raise money

People for a Better Planet and
United Against
Pollution
Jane Smith and
John Jones
Jane Smith

fundraising

for your group and publicize the
group’s work.

In the end ...
It is possible that your group may not
achieve the goals it has defined. But in
the process something much larger can
happen.

Organizing workshops
preparing a portable display for
public information
sessions

When
Late winter – before planting
starts
Start in the spring,
ongoing through
the fall
Spring & summer
Summer – to be
ready for local
harvest festivals
in the fall

Julia Chadwick, formerly with the
Friends of the Petitcodiac talks about
community organizing:
“In the end, what the Friends of
the Petitcodiac are working towards is much larger than our
goal of opening the gates in the
causeway on the Petitcodiac
River. We are helping to create a
community where people expect
to have a say in how decisions
are made that affect them. The
Friends of the Petitcodiac have
given citizens a greater understanding of the Petitcodiac and
the importance of rivers in general. From that perspective,
community organizing is a nolose process. Even if the direct
goal is not obtained, the community as a whole benefits from a
greater base of knowledge and
understanding.”